6:05pm

Business and the Economy

More Kentucky Travelers This Memorial Day Weekend

The first three day holiday weekend of the summer is upon us and Triple A says car travel will be the preferred mode of transportation. In fact, Christopher Oakford at Bluegrass Triple A says more Kentuckians are expected to take a trip over 50 miles compared to last Memorial Day. Oakford says the auto club took a survey of motorists back in April.

“People said that no, in fact, the cost of gas would not deter them from traveling or driving…that they were still gonna plan a vacation but what they would do is scale back on the amount that they would spend on hotel rooms, or entertainment, or meals..and as you’ve pointed out. Now gas prices have fallen..maybe they’ll have a little extra money to spend on those things,” said Oakford.

Gasoline prices steadily increased during the early months of 2012, but began to decline in April. Bluegrass Triple A spokesman Christopher Oakford says this is similar to a trend that was seen last year.

“This year there’s been a record run of consecutive days over which the gas prices have fallen since about the middle of April.. which is actually great news for consumers…for drivers…and sort of bucks the trend of prices spiking towards the holiday periods,” added Oakford.

Oakford says the number of people flying for the holiday period is up slightly, but nothing compared to those traveling by car. The Triple A representative says there remains a wide variance in the price of gas from station to station, sometimes within the same community. Oakford says his advice is to seek the least expensive fuel, no matter the company brand.